I don’t feel like working out today, I will do it
later. I will call my mom tomorrow. I know my aunt is sick but I will stop by the
hospital to visit her another day. I
will start my diet next month. I will
stop putting things on credit one of these days. I will tell him “I’m sorry” eventually. Don’t drive down that street take another
route. Do you know how many thoughts you
have in a day? Have you ever had thoughts or similar thoughts like this cross
your mind and you subconsciously answer them back or simply listen to them?
What do you think that is? You’re
conscious, gut feelings, or the Holy Spirit?
I know now that it’s the Holy Spirit guiding me and in the last year I
have felt STRONG feelings prompting me to do certain things. These feelings are
real and once I learned to respond and be obedient to them, the blessings were
extraordinary! I would like to share
some scenarios where the Holy Spirit asked me to do something and what happened
after I was obedient.
The first one was the decision to quit my full time sales
management career to pursue motherhood and photography. I vividly remember the night God spoke to my
heart and said “give up control”. I
further explored that, and He was saying “surrender your life to me, let me
lead and you can follow” Although I was not immediately obedient in leaving
that career, I finally did and God has blessed me and my family more than I can
possibly describe to you. The first
month of being a stay at home mommy, I realized just how much I was missing out
on before. I now get to be a part of
their days, laughter, tears, poopy pants, fights, hugs and kisses! I see my children differently now and I’m so
grateful to God for the new found time I get to spend with them. Then photography,
WOW!!!!! God has rocked our world with it.
My first month of solely doing photography (only part time, remember I’m
primarily a mommy nowJ)
we opened a studio space and have stayed booked solid! I have more time to be with God, help raise
my family and be the successful business woman I believe God has designed me to
be. If that is not cool enough, I get to do this all with one of my best friends
because we are business partners! I truly believe God is blessing our path and
showing us favor because we were BOTH obedient in HIM. He said “it’s time to move on” and we
did.
The second situation was about three months ago. I learned that a young 23 year old man, (that
use to date one of my family members) was struck by a car while running a marathon. He suffered severe brain injuries and is now
living in a care center unable to care or speak for himself. God put it on my heart to go and pray for him
one on one. I have to be honest; I didn’t
want to do it. Not because I didn’t care
about this man, but because it was uncomfortable for me. I had NEVER done that before and I was
worried about what people would think of me if they found out I did that. Also, it takes time and frankly I had other
things I wanted to fill my time up with.
Well, one day after my own personal doctor’s appointments I decided I
was finally going to be obedient to God and GO pray for this young man. I was scared out of my mind! I kept
thinking…how am I going to do this? What
am I going to pray for? What if I
chicken out? What if the nurses and
people there think I’m weird? Oh boy, so
many thoughts went through my head, but I got it together, said a little prayer
and made my way into the care center. I
was instantly greeted by a nurse who led me straight to this young man’s
room. Another nurse, who happened to be
his actual nurse, was in the room already treating and caring for him. I introduced myself to her and said why I
was there and she positioned him so he could see me. I spoke loudly to this young man and
reintroduced myself, he groaned very loudly and his nurse told me “oh that
means he knows who you are!. I thought
to myself, “how wonderful, he is responsive and knows who I am!!!” The nurse left us some privacy. I leaned over his bed and began to pray for
him. I told him how proud I was of him
and how strong he was. I told him that I
believed in him and that I know God is healing him. I encouraged him with some scripture I could
think of in the moment, but just then, I felt God ask me to “sing to him”. Without hesitation I sang “Amazing Grace My
Chains are Gone”. I held his hand as I
gently sang this song to him and tears dripped from both of his eyes. In that moment, I realized GOD IS WITH US!!!!
This sweet young man was REALLY hearing this song and feeling God as I was in
the moment. I wiped his tears and mine
and praised God for the incredible moment that just took place. I ended my time
with him and left the room. I was on a
high from God’s grace and love! I know
that God is blessing and healing this young man and I look forward to the time
God directs me back to his room again to pray.
The last situation happened just recently. There is a woman in my husband’s home town community
that has a rare type of cancer. Her
treatment options are God and God alone.
She had really been on my heart lately and last time I was back in my husband’s
home town, I felt led to go pray with her in person. I had never met her face-to-face but I just
knew God was calling me to go and pray with her. Again, we had a busy weekend
planned and so many things popped up in my mind as to why I should not go and
do this…But thankfully, this time I listened to God’s leading and called her up
and asked If I could stop by and pray with her.
She joyfully accepted. I got there and instantly, I felt connected to
her like a sister. She told me that very
morning, she had prayed specifically for someone to come and pray with her; Shortly
after her prayer, her phone rang and it was me asking if I could pray for
her. God is so cool! I instantly was
taught a lesson in that moment that when God asks you do to do something, you
better do it, because you just never know who could be counting on you. One thing that really stood out in my mind from
this awesome time with her, was that God has given her the gift of
fearlessness. She 100 percent has NO fear and totally trusts God. Here is the cool thing about God; he always
uses these situations to bless both sides.
And here she thought I was there to help her… but then I realized how
much she helped me too! As you all know,
I struggle with anxiety, which is totally a form of fear. This one situation
alone showed me how we can always trust God NO MATTER WHAT we are facing. We have no reason to fear, because he is in
total control. Just like with the young
man, I walked out with my time with her completely and totally awed by God!
The point to all of this is obedience does cost.
It costs us time and often being
uncomfortable, but if you can get through that, the blessings on the other side
are far better than the inconvenience or discomfort you may feel. The whole “it’s better to give than to receive”
is so true. Please know, I’m not telling
these stories to toot my own horn, because believe me, I’m a work-in-progress
myself. I’m not always obedient and I
often miss the mark. I’m telling this
because I believe God wants me to share how awesome obedience to him can truly
be. So, I’m going to leave you with
these last thoughts. What gut feeling
have you had lately that you are putting off?
Who may be counting on you to come through for them?
